Lone coyote haunting runways at Halifax airport

Several pilots have reported a coyote crossing the runway at Halifax Stanfield International Airport. An airport official says once a coyote makes its way behind the fence, getting out would be hard. (PARKS CANADA)

A lone coyote, a species sometimes known as the “ghost of the plains” because of its eerie howl and brief appearances in the dark of night, is haunting the runways at Halifax Stanfield international airport.

A pilot reported spotting one on a Halifax runway in the early morning hours back in July, and three different pilots also said a coyote crossed their runways late at night or early in the morning last Friday and Saturday, according to the Civil Aviation Daily Occurrence Reporting System.

Airport wildlife officers are working on the assumption the coyote is alone, because they have spotted a similar-looking animal darting into the forested area around the airfield perimeter, said Mike Rantala, Stanfield’s director of safety, security and environment.

“We don’t know for sure but we think it is the same one,” he said Wednesday. “We’ve seen it before and it is a young, small coyote.

“I don’t know about the one in July, I don’t have the detail on that, but there’s been a couple of sightings beyond a runway. We anticipate it’s the same one that’s kind of gotten in somehow.”

The perimeter is marked by a fence that’s partially buried to keep wildlife from digging in underneath, said Rantala, and staff regularly patrol the area to check for possible entry spots.

They haven’t found any obvious path for a coyote to get inside the fence, but a small one may have been able to squeeze its way in through one of the gates, he said.

“We think it’s got in somehow but now can’t get out, just because you have all that 19 kilometres of buried fence, essentially, so unless it found that same spot where it got in, it’s difficult.”

The airfield is kept clear of anything that might seem attractive to wildlife looking for food, water or shelter, and while staff sometimes have to deal with an occasional groundhog or skunk, most of their efforts are focused on birds, said Rantala.

“This is relatively rare, and if somehow it did get in and went through a fence gate, just for that reason it’s almost stuck in there.”

In any case, wildlife pose a potential threat to airplanes taking off or landing, and they need to be removed, he said.

Staff use hand-held flares that make a loud noise to scare off birds, and they have baited a trap to try to capture and remove the coyote.

“We have sunrise-to-sunset dedicated coverage (from) wildlife officers seven days a week until the bird season is over, so it’s one of our focuses right now, because a coyote is a larger mammal and it’s very important for us from an aviation standpoint to find that coyote and make sure it’s not a problem to aviation safety,” Rantala said.

The staff have weapons they can use to shoot and kill an animal, if necessary, but those pose an extra layer of safety concerns and are used sparingly, he said.

The public may be more aware of the danger to airplanes posed by wildlife after the dramatic incident in 2009 when a flight out of LaGuardia Airport in New York struck a flock of geese and had to make an emergency landing on the Hudson River, Rantala said.

But people likely don’t realize there’s a daytime crew of three actively trying to prevent wildlife from getting a foothold on the Halifax airfield, and another staff member tasked at night with keeping an eye on nature’s invaders, he said.

“Even when we have employees come into the airport and start working there, one of their big comments, not just on the wildlife side of it but in everything, they’re so surprised at the inner workings of the airport — all those pieces of the puzzle that all have to fit together to make sure that passengers check in quickly and get on their plane and off to their destination.”